BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer
JEFFGRANIT staff Jackie Battaglino fires a pitch to the plate during RBC’s state championship game win in Toms River on Saturday. Old Bridge’s Jackie Battaglino probably doesn’t have too many regrets about transferring to Red Bank Catholic earlier this year.
After all, she’s a state champion because of it.
Battaglino and the Caseys captured the Non-Public A title on Saturday the state crown Saturday morning with a 3-0 win over Mount St. Dominick before a large crowd at Toms River North High School. And that win came three days after the Caseys posted a huge 5-2 upset win over Shore Conference champion St. John Vianney, the top-ranked team in the state.
And just think, there was a time this season when Red Bank Catholic was only 7-6 and in danger of not even making the postseason playoffs.
“We were getting a little concerned,” admitted Tracey Lombardi, who took over as head coach this season after two years as an assistant. “My assistant coach, Doug Bessemer, and I talked and at that point we were concerned about just finishing .500 and making the Shore Conference and state tournaments.
“But I told the girls a lot of people didn’t believe in them, but that I believed in them and as long as they believed in each other we can accomplish what we needed to do. But we had to work hard if we wanted to make the playoffs.
“And, boy, did they ever turn it around.”
Did they ever. RBC proceeded to win its next 14 games to make both tournaments. What’s more, a couple of games into the winning streak, Jackie Battaglino, a junior transfer pitcher from Old Bridge who had sit out the first 30 days of the season, became eligible. That turned everything around.
“We won a few games in a row even before she came onboard,” Lombardi pointed out. “But when Jackie was finally able to join the team, we were able to move a lot of people around.”
Lombardi was able to take senior Natalie Cruz, who had been pitching, and shift her to shortstop.
“Natalie was just as good a pitcher,” Lombardi said, “but by putting her at short and Jackie on the mound to pitch, it was better for us defensively. It made us a lot sounder.”
Lombardi was then able to take sophomore Kerry Griffin, one of the team’s top hitters who played shortstop the first half of the season, and move her to first base.
And when Battaglino wasn’t pitching, she played first base.
“Everybody was where they were supposed to be. Everybody felt comfortable,” Lombardi said. “Plus now we also had two good pitchers. We were always able to give one of them a rest.
“Even though we pitched Jackie a lot, we still used Natalie in a few games,” she added.
“She got a big win for us against Toms River East, who we beat in the bottom of the seventh.”
Once the postseason arrived, however, Battaglino got the ball. And despite being seeded 14th in the Shore Conference tournament, RBC reeled off three straight wins to reach the championship game.
But the Caseys’ good fortune — and winning streak — finally ended as they lost 10-0 to top-seeded St. John Vianney in the finals.
Undaunted, Red Bank Catholic began a new winning streak in the state tournament, knocking off St. Paul in the opening round and Bishop Ahr in the quarterfinals to set up a rematch against its longtime rival, St. John Vianney, in the semifinals.
This time, however, Battaglino was in total command as she held the powerful SJV offense to just two runs while the Caseys scratched out five runs against the usually unhittable Tricia Reingle.
Some savvy coaching by a rookie head coach also helped.
“When we lost to them 10-0 in the Shore championship game, Jackie had a 103-degree fever,” Lombardi noted. “Once we were already down 4-0 I pulled her out of the game because I didn’t want to make her worse.
“But I didn’t tell anyone before or after the game that she was sick because I didn’t want St. John Vianney to think she was off her game. I wanted them to think they were facing the real Jackie instead of the sick Jackie.”
Lombardi didn’t even tell her sister in-law, Kim Lombardi, who coaches St. John Vianney. As a result, the Shore Conference champs may have come in with a false sense of confidence.
“They were definitely surprised,” Tracey Lombardi said. “Jackie was very focused in this game.”
Battaglino limited St. John Vianney to just three hits.